Trundle Bush Tucker Day 2024 was another successful event for the Trundle social calendar.

People traveled from around the region to participate and taste bush cooking and enjoy a fantastic line up of entertainment featuring The Bushwackers and The Wolfe Brothers.

Ranger Nick and Emiliqua East were again crowd favourites.

Ranger Nick cooked and served smoked chicken breast seasoned with bush tomato, salt bush, green tree ants, davidson plum and kunzea.

He also cooked up some bush tucker scones flavoured with finger lime, macadamias, riberry jam and strwberry gum which were all eaten very quickly.

Emiliqua East put her whip cracking skills on display and impressed everyone who watched and even those who could hear the cracks a mile away.

Emiliqua held whip cracking demonstrations for kids five and up and over thirty kids quickly picked up Emiliqua's whip cracking skills.

The national cooking competition saw an impressive 53 talented cook entered.

The creativity of all the cooking was highly impressive and the high quality of cooking made it hard for the judges.

The overall winner was Macy Leighton with her Berrillicious Bush Crumble.

Her dish featured Lilly Pilly, blackberries, strawberries and blueberries, macadamia nuts and homemade custard.

Macy created history with her dish, being the second junior ever to take out the overall title with her dish being executed perfectly.

Other results include:

Juniors:

First place and Karen Grady Memorial Award, Finlay Houlihan. Dish: Porkie Pig Belly

Second, Jock Leighton. Dish: Barra Balls

Encouragement Award, Charlotte Hutchings. Dish: Anzac Biscuits

Entrees:

First, Ryan and Cindy Waldron. Dish: Lamb in a straight jacket

Second, Michelle Bush. Dish: Pig Bush Ribs

Encouragement Award, Kerry Walker. Dish: Quacking good wood duck rolls

Mains:

First, Dave Morrison. Dish: Jolly Swagman’s Jumbuck Pie

Second, Kelly Curr. Dish: Spring Lamb and Paella wild boar chorizo

Encouragement Award, Geoff Bush. Dish: Corned Cow pork crackle

Desserts:

First, Leonie and Jess Parker. Dish: Wild Honey Cake (6 layers)

Second, Sharon Leach. Dish: Red wine poached pears quondory sauce

Encouragement Award, Rose Ward. Dish: Puddin’ Bread

Creativity Award:

Sue Morrison. Dish: Millie’s Bush Puff Delight

Aunty Millie wattling was famous for her cream puffs & Sue has managed to replicate it in a camp oven.

Best Presented Award:

Matt Rogers. Dish: Nick Rack (Lamb rack)

The dog jumping competition was again highly contested with both small dog and large dog competitions.

In the small dogs competition dog Leo jumped 1.35m with his owner Richard to take out first place.

Dog Nicky jumped 2.05m in the large dog competition winning the competition with his owner Billy.

The billy boiling competition and bushman's relay both also drew a crowd.

Leigha Ingold won the billy boiling competition followed by Chad Hall in second place and Jesse Ridges in third.

At the Bushman's relay you could hear a whole lot of laugh between teams and the crowd as participants jumped into wheelie bins and wheel barrows in the adults relay and jumped in sacks and pushed wheel barrows in the junior relay.

First place in the adults relay was Big Bin Chickens followed by Hailey's Team.

In the junior relay Bin Chickens took out first place followed by Leeton Team.

Before the bush cooking winners were announced, Trundle Bush Tucker Day president, Tamilla Bolam expressed her appreciation to her fellow Trundle Bush Tucker Day committee members and all who attended the event.

"As I stand here I am humbled to see not only a large number of familiar faces, but many new faces as well and that is what today is all about, brining people together and being able to cater an event for everyone," Tamilla said.

"It was 1987 when two mates decided to battle it out to see who could cook up the best bush tucker in a campie, and here we are 37 years later, with approximately 3000 people in attendance, with many battling it out for the tile of National Bush Cook Champion."

Tamilla thanked all of the generous sponsors that made the event possible.

"We are a not-for-profit committee solely ran by 15 volunteer community members. The success of this event is due to the commitment and passion these volunteers have for our community," Tamilla added.

The night ended with some amazing music by The Bushwackers followed by The Wolfe Brothers who got everyone up and dancing in the Trundle dust.

If you enjoyed Trundle Bush Tucker Day make sure to head to Trundle Bush Tucker Day's facebook page and complete their short survey to help the committee plan an even bigger and better Trundle Bush Tucker Day for 2025.

(From Trundle Bush Tucker Day)

Bit of Trundle Bush Tucker Day history….

In 2019 Trundle Bush Tucker Day registered the Cooking Competition as an Australian National Title Cooking Competition. In that year Charlie Anderson was our 1st Junior Overall Winner. Charlie with his dish “Charlie’s Chilli Ribs” taking out the Overall Champion in 2019 - but if you ask Charlie he held it for two years due to 2020 being cancelled because of Covid19. Such clever little chefs we have attending Trundle Bush Tucker Day!